Samardzija also provided accompanying bellows and fist pumps when he escaped jams in the first and sixth innings by erasing the Blue Jays' best hitters.

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Even more: Samardzija was named to the National League All-Star team, giving the A's a sudden embarrassment of star presence.

"Just a random happening," Samardzija said of his odd N.L./A.L. convergence.

Samardzija is ineligible to pitch in the game, but he will go through all the ceremonies as an official All-Star.

Then once the game starts, Samardzija said, he'll hustle over to the American League side to join "the six other dudes we've got"--Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Donaldson, Sean Doolittle, Scott Kazmir, Brandon Moss and Derek Norris.

That's the most A's All-Stars since 1975, when that legendary group was led by Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue.

My goodness, is the rest of baseball looking past the team's "scrappy" reputation and recognizing just how talented the A's really are?

The A's deserve all of this, of course. They've had the best record in baseball for much of this season, including right now.

Then general manager Billy Beane doubled-down on the present by sacrificing super-prospect Addison Russell to land Samardzija.

Pressure? On Sunday, Samardzija jumped right in and looked like he'd been part of this mojo for years.

"He was pretty unbelievable today," said Norris, who caught Samardzija's final inning. "You could tell the passion and excitement in his body language and his tone, everything today. Very nice to see a guy go out there with that kind of passion."

You couldn't miss Samardzija in the clubhouse before the game -- he bounced around from player to player, striking up as many conversations as I've ever seen from a pitcher before a start.

"He has a lot of fun in the clubhouse and he's serious when he's on the field," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Samardzija.